Inverse electron energy dispersion from moving auroral forms

Abstract

AbstractNumerous published examples of energy‐dispersed bursts show electron energies reaching as high as several keV and decaying to lower energies over a fraction of 1 s. This signature has been interpreted by some authors as due to impulsive acceleration to a broad range of energies in a localized region and by others as the result of impulsive, dispersive Alfvén waves, in which case the acceleration takes place over an extended distance along magnetic field lines. A survey by the Suprathermal (0–350 eV) Electron Imager on the Enhanced Polar Outflow Probe (ePOP) in the topside ionosphere has produced examples of high‐to‐low (“regular”) energy dispersion, but also a smaller number of examples exhibiting low‐to‐high (“inverse”) dispersion, which to our knowledge has not been reported before. Motivated by a recent report of regular electron dispersion produced by auroral rays moving faster than the E × B drift speed, we investigate a heuristic model of electron acceleration within a region of uniform electric field parallel to B which extends a distance La along magnetic field lines. We show that in addition to a broad range of energies, this model produces inverse dispersion when the detector is less than La beneath the bottom of the acceleration region and regular dispersion for detector distances larger than La. This simple model is meant to inform future efforts to construct a more physical model of suprathermal electron acceleration within moving auroral forms and suggests that inverse dispersion indicates relative proximity to an altitude‐extended acceleration region.